The Role Of Saakshar Organisation In Societal Upliftment

It’s a brittle world we live in. Brittle because often times we have no idea as to what we want and what we need to do. We want a change, that much everyone knows and cares about. How do you bring that necessary change? And while on that question, what exactly is a necessary change. That’s where people who have a clear vision to do something for the society, roll up their sleeves and start something that facilitates this change. The organisation that we are talking about today, Saakshar, believes in bringing education to the lesser fortunate. Saakshar believes in providing the children who are left out with least resources to tend to education. But is that all Saakshar as an organisation believes in. Definitely not. The organisation founded and curated by Rajesh Mummaneni and his team brings an overall development within the definition of education. Thus, it was imperative that we cover them through talking to Rajesh about it and bring its story to the world.

The Inception Of The Idea Of Saakshar Organisation

I looked after the problems that are currently present in our society by talking with many people. Actually, there are many things to be solved, I constantly looked for one thing which has the power to transform their lives. As education is a powerful weapon I wanted to start something in the education sector. Coming to how did the idea come to my mind, I just wanted to solve the problem by using the resources in a cost-effective manner. So, I immediately thought “youth could do something meaningful during the weekends which can benefit the children at extremes if provided a platform.” So, this idea looked executable to me and I went on to create a small community of passionate volunteers.

What Defines Saakshar As An Organisation?

Saakshar is all about education. Unfortunately, there are thousands of children in our country who cannot afford this powerful life asset to this day! In a country like India, where there are thousands of grown-ups who still don’t have food when they’re hungry and shelter when they’re tired, it is very crucial to educate at least the young and the upcoming generation.

We, at Saakshar Organisation, visit government schools on Saturdays and teach using innovative methodologies. By teaching, we do not mean only standard textbook syllabus, but we also mean useful life skills, which means Problem Solving, Stress Management, Leadership, Basic Arithmetic, Communication Skills, Informed Decision Making etc.

How Saakshar operates can be told in a single line which is “Give 2 hours a week for an academic year, educate and transform a class.”

The Team And Minds Behind Structuring Saakshar Organisation

Saakshar was founded by Rajesh Mummaneni. Rajesh Mummaneni has been selected as one of the teen social innovators as role models for youth. He is the only millennial changemaker recognized as Andhra Pradesh’s 1st ‘Ashoka Youth Venturer’. This initiative is for teenagers below the age of 20 years. In all, 18 such teenage changemakers have been selected pan-India by the Ashoka Youth Venturer – a programme that responds quickly and effectively to social challenges and believes that each young individual has the freedom, confidence, and support to drive positive change. Saakshar, later on, absorbed Sri Ramani, Vamsi Krishna, and Durga Sarvani, as they were taken into the core team. The whole team strategizes and brings valid and skill-oriented education to children in need of them.

Recognitions And Achievements For Saakshar Organisation  Till Date

We have just received a call last week from Bondapalli Primary Government School Head Mistress. (This is one of the 5 schools Saakshar Organisation has taken care of in the past academic year.) She shared that “Mentoring sessions provided by Saakshar in the previous year are of immense value and children hugely got benefitted from that.” She also stated, “the educational materials provided are really helpful and your constant support and materials have unleashed children’s creativity.” A teachers training meeting was conducted in the past week for reviewing of past year. In the meeting, she told us that “The children became very enthusiastic and very active. Saakshar took care of everything, they are regularly monitoring the activities and helping us in getting things done in an efficient manner. They were a lot more concerned about the school than the villagers residing there.” Moments like these make us do a lot more!

The Future For Saakshar As An Idea And As An Organisation

Currently, 248 children in 5 schools have benefitted from our programs in the pilot project so far. We have been working with just a single Facebook page. We have even raised donations for our programs via the Facebook page itself. Our future plans are to start local chapters in many places of India by replicating the same model to help and improve more number of children and to set up a website for more being transparent and to exhibit what Saakshar is doing in a proper manner.

Thus that was Rajesh Mummaneni talking about the organisation, Saakshar, which is lending an essential hand in shaping up the world we live in, by educating our next generation. As Victor Hugo says – He who opens a school door, closes a prison. If you think you can join hands with Saakshar, do contact them for volunteer work on their official Facebook page, and be the change.